YouTube Red Facts For TGN Partners

There’s quite a bit of buzz about YouTube Red.

I’ve noticed quite a few questions regarding YouTube Red and how it can affect TGN Partners, and content creators from all MCNs. I’m here to tell you that YouTube Red is not the terrible, beastly thing many people would have you believe. That’s why I’ve gathered the facts on what YouTube Red is, and how it affects content creators on YouTube.

YouTube Red Does Not Change YouTube

Literally, nothing changes. Even if no one signs up for Youtube Red, nothing changes. The only aspects that change are for the people who actually decided to sign up for YouTube Red. They get the ability to save their favorite videos and watch them offline, ad-free video viewing, the ability to play videos in the background of your mobile device(s), and a free subscription to Google Play.

That’s it. That’s all that changes, and it’s only for the users who actually decide to sign-up and pay $9.99 USD a month for the service. Other than that, ad revenue for content creators stays relatively the same, as well as getting revenue for offline viewing. It’s more like a YouTube version of Netflix, where you still get paid for your content, but your fans can save it and watch it offline as well.

I sincerely doubt YouTube and chill will be a thing.

Personally, I don’t think it’s meant to overtake Netflix, but be more of a side by side companion for YouTube created content. Finished binge watching your favorite season of “Breaking Bad” on Netlfix? Hop onto your YouTube Red account and binge watch one of your favorite content creators.

There’s No “Strong-Arming” Going On

This one’s pretty silly and I wish people didn’t fall for the scare tactic that surrounded it. I also feel that YouTube could have communicated a bit better what was going on before they sent the email they did to creators.

Basically, YouTube sent an email to all current content creators with a new terms of service they had to agree to, and people flipped because of what would happen if they did not comply.

YouTube claimed that they would remove their content if the creator did not agree to the new terms of service put forth by their company with YouTube Red. Of course this led to a panic. You can’t just tell content creators that you’re gonna trash all their content and expect them to be hunky-dory with it. I mean come on.

To put it bluntly, they were legally required

to ask everyone’s permission because of the new offline ad revenue thing,

and for your permission to allow it.

But, in all honesty, this was just the equivalent of YouTube saying, hey, nothing’s changing for your channel or its content, but we changed our terms with the new YouTube Red thing, and we need you to sign these to continue using our product.

To put it bluntly, they were legally required to ask everyone’s permission because of the new offline ad revenue thing, and for your permission to allow it. You get the same things from Paypal, credit card companies, and certain proprietary electronics.

I’d rather just panic and call YouTube a scam!

They can’t just go changing things without telling people, so they needed to ask, like every company does. But they seriously went about it the wrong way, and I can’t blame people for misinterpreting the intent. It’s just a pity that was the first interaction everyone had with the new program.

There Is No Cost For Content Creators

The $9.99 USD fee is only for the people who choose to sign up for YouTube Red. That’s a user fee, not a content creator fee. And with the average viewer only generating around two to three dollars a month, the $9.99 USD fee makes a huge profit on that for content creators.

So, not only is there no cost to sign up for this, but content creators stand to make more money as they create videos that viewers save and play offline. YouTube Red opens many doors for content creators to earn even more off of their content, and that’s pretty sweet for our TGN Partners.

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Overall, YouTube Red is a really fantastic thing for content creators of all sizes, because it paves the way for users to enjoy your content in different avenues, and gives you all a chance to make even more money off of your content.

We’ll be back next week with the biggest myths about YouTube Red so our Partners can see that it really is just a change of service that allows you to make even more off of your content, and is in no way YouTube trying to “get one over on you”.

If you do have questions about YouTube Red and how it affects your TGN Partnered channel, please feel free to contact our Partner Services staff at support@TGN.tv.